The Third Victim by Phillip Margolin #bookreview #thriller

The “master of heart-pounding suspense” returns with a brand new series—The Third Victimis New York Times bestseller Phillip Margolin at his very best.

A woman stumbles onto a dark road in rural Oregon—tortured, battered, and bound. She tells a horrific story about being kidnapped, then tortured, until she finally managed to escape. She was the lucky one—two other women, with similar burns and bruises, were found dead.

The surviving victim identifies the house where she was held captive and the owner, Alex Mason—a prominent local attorney—is arrested. Although he loudly insists upon his innocence, his wife’s statements about his sexual sadism and the physical evidence found at the scene, his summer home, is damning.

Regina Barrister is a legendary criminal defense attorney, known as “The Sorceress” for her courtroom victories. But she’s got a secret, one that threatens her skill, her reputation, and, most of all, her clients. And she’s agreed to take on the seemingly impossible task of defending Alex Mason.

Robin Lockwood, a young lawyer and former MMA fighter, has just left a clerkship at the Oregon Supreme Court to work for Regina Barrister. The Alex Mason trial is her first big one, a likely death penalty case, and she’s second chair to Regina. Increasingly, she’s worried her boss’s behavior and the details in the case against their client don’t quite add up.

The Third Victim by Phillip Margolin is a new legal thriller that takes off from the opening pages and keeps the action coming. The story is told from multiple points of view as it unfolds from the victim being found all the way through the investigation and trial of the case.

As a driver heads down a country road Meredith Fenner appears out of the forest in front of him. Checking if she is alright it’s apparent that she needs a hospital and quickly. Beaten, bruised and bloody Meredith has obviously been attacked so the police are called in to try to find what had happened to her.

The Portland Police are called in to the investigation when it appears that Meredith injuries seem to be similar to the bodies of two young women they have been investigating. Meredith leads them to the cabin where she escaped from and it belongs to none other than attorney Alex Mason who is arrested for the crimes and hires the legendary Regina Barrister and her new assistant Robin Lockwood to defend him.

There is a lot going on in The Third Victim all through the book but it was always easy to follow and kept the pages turning. I found it interesting no matter if out hunting for clues and evidence or in the courtroom battling the case. I did however guess the big twist early on myself so not a full five stars for this one but would definitely pick up more from this author in the future.

PHILLIP MARGOLIN has written over twenty novels, most of them New York Times bestsellers, including Gone But Not Forgotten, Lost Lake, and Violent Crimes. In addition to being a novelist, he was a long time criminal defense attorney with decades of trial experience, including a large number of capital cases. Margolin lives in Portland, Oregon.

Great Review Carrie!😍 I like the sound of this thriller!💯👏 I’m glad you enjoyed it! I also like that it’s based on Portland, Oregon! I loved there when I was 18 and just LOVE how beautiful it was there!😍

That’s awesome! It’s definitely beautiful, Carrie! I had a small one bedroom apartment and the view within walking distance was off like a mountain and you can see the beautiful city and see skyskrapers and mountains in the distance. Also the minimum wage is way higher there and they don’t have sales tax. The only thing I thought was wierd was the whole state did not have self service gas stations. But I saw the good side of how it made more jobs available for everyone! Also man the air I could instantly breathe better there and the water was better!❤ Sorry I am rambling on now. Lol. But looking back it was gorgeous and I lived in 3 different parts of Oregon so I lived in a small town onside of a mountain as well. Hooe you have a great weeke, girl!❤

I knew New Jersey and another state out there it’s illegal to pump your own gas, didn’t think it was Oregon but maybe it was. LOL But yes I can relate to feeling like you can just breath better, I get like that when I head down south with the ocean air so I can imagine being along the coast and with all of the trees it would be much the same.

Grisham is another I need to go back and pick up again, always loved his books as with a lot of authors I read up to a point when life hit and didn’t hardly get any reading done and now that I’m back to it I can’t get over my clicking obsession. LOL